Christmas Wish List: Happy Holidays

Every day in December (work schedule permitting) I plan on posting one thing from my official DevilDinosaur Christmas Wish List (patent pending). Why? Because I can.

Happy Holidays to everyone! I probably won't be posting a lot between now and new years. I have the week off so I'll be at home hanging out with the kids building Lego and playing with DC Superhero girls. I might post one or two things if I have the time and they're easy. We'll see.

Silent Night by Chewbacca

Not sure if anything really needs to be said about this. It's Chewbacca singing Silent Night in his native tongue, Shyriiwook. There's something you should keep mind bottled for the next time you play Star Wars Trivial Pursuit. Shyriiwook.

Darth Santa Strikes Back!

You know, my son has a really fantastic Kyle Ren costume he got for Halloween. All I need is a Darth Vader costume and a bit of free time. What could possible go wrong?

Christmas Wish List: Raspberry Pi Arcade Cabinet

Every day in December (work schedule permitting) I plan on posting one thing from my official DevilDinosaur Christmas Wish List (patent pending). Why? Because I can.

Every few weeks on Reddit I see people post pictures of these amazing custom Raspberry Pi cabinets and I want in on that. Last year I put together my own RetroPi, so I'm confident enough in getting the software to work, it's putting together the cabinet and getting the control stick and buttons all working and programmed that I'm pretty iffy on. If I put one of these things together I want it to WORK not "work". Like if I have to break out a keyboard and open up the cabinet every time I fire it up then what's the point of putting it in a slick cabinet?

I think I'm really going to try this. I'm going to have 5 weeks of vacation next year, it doesn't seem that irresponsible to take a 3 or 4 days off to put one of these together. My dad is pretty much a master woodworker at this point in his retirement. I'll bet if I sent him the specs on the cabinet pieces he could whip them up for me in no time and all I'd have to do is assemble the thing.

Now I just have to decide where the put it and how to keep my son off it all day...

Rogue One: A Review!

Would you believe that I really enjoyed Rogue One: A Star Wars Story? I know, I'm as surprised as you are. No spoilers here, just a few quick words on the movie:

The reviews for Rogue One have been pretty positive and I think they're pretty well deserved. If I try and remove myself from the fandom for a minute I think there's plenty in Rogue One for any non-Star Wars geek to enjoy. Of course removed from that fandom there's not a ton about the movie that would make it incredibly memorable. The best parts of the movie really are in the details.

Sure the actors do a fine job but outside of Alan Tyduk's smart ass robot there's not really a break out character. It's like the San Antonio Spurs of casts. Everyone is really good and they win a ton of games but outside of San Antonio no one is buying a lot of their jerseys. The action is fine and nicely paced, there's a couple really dramatic scenes and there's the expected razzmatazz with the special and practical effects. If this is the kind of overall quality we can expect from all the Star Wars spin-offs Disney has planned I think most fans will be pretty happy.

Where the movie really shines though is how it fits into the main story of the Star Wars universe. It took 15 years but finally we have a prequel that feels at home with the original trilogy. A lot of care and detail went into making sure this movie lined up perfectly with Episode IV. Of course they didn't stop there, there are so called Easter eggs for the two new Cartoons, Star Wars Rebels and Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures. If you're really into Star Wars cannon there's a lot in this movie for you.

Much like when The Force Awakens came out last year, some fans are probably a little too eager to call Rogue One the best or the second best Star Wars movie ever. It's definitely a good movie, better than any of the prequels maybe not as enjoyable as The Force Awakens though. I don't know, ranking the Star Wars movies basically comes down to how much you can stand Death Stars and Ewoks. Personally I'll take more Ewoks over Death Stars any day of the week.

Welcome To Hell

Christmas Wish List: Toys For Tots

Every day in December (work schedule permitting) I plan on posting one thing from my official DevilDinosaur Christmas Wish List (patent pending). Why? Because I can.

It's become a bit of a tradition that every year my son and I make a special trip to go shopping for a donation to Toys For Tots (or a similar program). I'm not sitting here trying to tell you how fantastic of a parent I am or anything, most of the year I'm incredibly lazy and ineffectual as far as that goes. I just want my son (and probably my daughter next year) to learn a bit about being charitable this time of year. Also there are tons of kids out there that might not get a Christmas present if it wasn't for donations and anytime I think about it too much it breaks my heart.

So, even though we're just 6 days away from Christmas, it's not too late. There's still time to donate a gift or a small amount of cash. Just think of it as an Overwatch Loot Box for your heart.

Also a tax write off!

Megan Fox as Poison Ivy, Sure Why Not?

Everyone and their grandma is reporting that Megan Fox really wants to be Poison Ivy in a recently announced Gotham City Sirens movie. Gotham City Sirens is a comic from a few years ago that featured the unlikely(?) team of Poison Ivy, Catwoman and Harley Quinn. It's DC/WB's answer to the fact that Suicide Squad was kinda terrible but everyone really liked Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. The movie still made like $500 million so you have to have some sort of sequel. Why not highlight what everyone liked and ditch everything else?

The bad news of course is that David Ayer is set to direct the movie because DC/WB only knows of two directors. I mean if there was ever a movie for them to step out of the box and hire someone better known for comedy or straight drama, this is their chance. I guess WB/DC just figures if they keep making the same style of movie over and over eventually we'll like them.

Oh yeah, no chance of Megan Fox being Poison Ivy. When is the last time a well known star lobbied for a role they actually got? Ask Donald Glover how that worked out. Of course I think they could do a lot worse than Ms. fox. She's not unattractive AND she's actually kinda good. I know all the critics panned Jennifer's Body but she was kinda the bomb in that and she was a lot more enjoyable in The New Girl than I think anyone expected. Make it happen DC.

Spider-Man: Homecoming, the Trailer

I'm kinda meh on the whole Spider-Man: Homecoming thing but this Lego remake of the trailer is super cool. Sometimes these Lego remakes don't turn out so good but this one is legit. It's almost like the guys that put the trailer together were in cahoots with the Lego guys. I bet this goes right to the top, I wouldn't put anything past BIG LEGO.

3 different Spider-Men in the last 10 years has really nerfed my enthusiasm for Spider-Man movies. Homecoming looks fine, I'm sure it won't be bad or anything but watching the trailer I could help but wish it was really for a Ms Marvel movie. Like it hits on almost all the major plot points of the Ms Marvel comic, even down to a bird based bad guy. Also as long as I'm complaining about things that logo is stupid looking. And titling the movie Homecoming? Get over yourself Marvel, yeah people care that this is the first Marvel Studios Spider-Man movie but they don't care that much.

Handmade Christmas Cards, Now Made by Lego Robots

Oh man do I need this. I am terrible at writing any sort of card. Birthday cards, Christmas cards, thank you cards from my wedding 10 years ago that I still have but never mailed out. Sorry Brian, I really do like that radio you gave us. I listen to it almost every day. I'm a terrible friend.

Anyway this Lego Mindstorm creation is amazing. I can't imagine how much it would cost or how long it would take to program.

Christmas Wish List: Overwatch Loot Boxes

Every day in December (work schedule permitting) I plan on posting one thing from my official DevilDinosaur Christmas Wish List (patent pending). Why? Because I can.

So yesterday was the launch of the big Overwatch: Winter Wonderland event that runs through 1/2/17. These seasonal events just keep getting better, sure I could probably have used a Kwanzaa or Chanukah skin thrown in there but holy cow, that Santa Torbjorn. I must have him.

When Blizzard did their big Halloween thing in October I actually bought a few loot boxes (they're about a dollar each) because it was taking so long to grind for them. But for the Winter Wonderland event I'm close to hitting level 100, which is when your levels reset, you earn a star and the next 1-25 levels all come a lot faster. I'm hoping to hit 100 by this weekend and by next weekend I should be back up to level 25. That's a lot of loot boxes. I swear if I don't get that Santa Torbjorn...

Gaslighting Links

Donald Trump Is Gaslighting America. I saw a lot of talk on twitter about how Teen Vogue of all people was killing it with their political coverage and I'll be damned if they weren't right. This article about Trump's gaslighting of America is incredibly effective, it's brief without sacrificing substance. The writer backs up her claim incredibly well, it's not one of those articles where the writer has an obvious axe to grind or hot take to make and basically warps every comment and fact to fit their narrative. Good on you Teen vogue.

Microsoft now has the tools to make the Surface Pro the ultimate mobile computer. I'm not 100% sure the key to the Surface Pro is actually using a ARM processor but what do I know, I'm just a schlub who hasn't bought a new laptop in 7 years. I like the idea of better battery life AND cellular integration but isn't the whole point of the Surface that it's not just an iPad, that it's a fully functioning computer? Seems to me like sacrificing processing power is a step backward in the fight against Apple.

Donald Trump Names WWE's Linda McMahon To Head Small Business Administration. I like how Trump is just appointing people to cabinet positions who pretty much hate that department. Rick Perry his pick for secretary of Energy famously said he would shut down the Department of Energy if elected president. Well, he tried to say it. He famously forgot the name of the department in a debate but trust me it was the Department of Energy. The McMahon's are no friend to small business and their labor practices border on illegal like 99% of the time. Also Linda McMahon took the worst Stone Cold Stunner of all time. I hope congress blocks her nomination just for that.

Comic Desks. This is a cool tumblr blog that just shows you the work spaces of comic book creators (both writers and artists). Nice to see some of these guys and gals are as messy as I am.

The F8 of the Furious: Official Trailer #1

Holy cow you guys, not only did the Sounders with their first ever MLS Cup this weekend but the first trailer for F8 hit the web. It was such a big weekend I'm thinking of getting the date tatooed on my ribs the same way people do with their kid's birth dates.

As far as the actual trailer goes, I'm super excited for evil Dom. I'm going to go out on a limb and predict there's either some sort of Winter Soldier like mind control going on here or he's going super deep undercover. So deep that he has to push all his friends away, they've already sort of done the mind control thing with Letty so I'm leaning towards the undercover thing right now. Also there's a submarine. Man this movie is going to be the best.

Some People Stand In That Darkness

Welp, here's your first look at the Baywatch Movie, so that's definitely still a thing. Clear your calendar for May 26, 2017. You're going to want to see all that bouncing and jiggling opening night.

Christmas Wish List: Bartending Skills

Every day in December (work schedule permitting) I plan on posting one thing from my official DevilDinosaur Christmas Wish List (patent pending). Why? Because I can.

I wish I knew how to make a drink. I know how to make a rum and coke and that's about it. If pressed I can make a mojito if you give me a bottle of mix with instructions on the side. I'd like to be able to make my own old fashioneds, or manhattans or maybe try one of these moscow mules all the hip kids are drinking these days.

I bought a bottle of moonshine from work the other day just because it had a recipe on the side for a boozy cider that seemed totally doable. Make your spiced cider then add the moonshine. Sprinkled cinnamon on top was an option, one I'll probably never use because I don't even know how to sprinkle cinnamon.

Someone gave me a cocktail book for Christmas this year, maybe that's the kick in the butt I need to learn how to make fancy drinks. I'm in my 40s now, if Gilmore Girls has taught me anything you're always supposed to have at least one cocktail before dinner.

Also it taught me that Rory is kind of an awful person.

The Best Part of Waking Up

Holy shit you guys, this is hilarious.

Winter Links

What Pizzagate has in common with every conspiracy theory. Have you read anything about Pizzagate? Man these guys are absolute nut bags and generally speaking I'm pretty forgiving when it comes to conspiracies. I don't rule out Bigfoot and I wouldn't be surprised in the least if the government had proof of Aliens. I'll even give you some cabal of super wealthy that run everything. Those conspiracy theories at least have a small amount of logic behind them. The idea that the Clintons are using a Pizza place as some sort of cover for a child sex ring is so ridiculously out there that I can't even...

Top Six Winter Driving Tips! Here's tip number 7, these tips are fake. They're funny but remember that they are fake. If you see a Yeti you should DEFINITELY try and mate with it. Passing up on some sweet Yeti action like that is 6 years bad luck.

Time Loop movies that don't suck. This is a pretty good list, frankly I can't believe someone else saw the movie Triangle. There's a couple clunkers in here (Donnie Darko is garbage, sorry cool kids) but you could spend a lot worse time than checking all of these out.

The 25 Best Comics of 2016. I didn't read most of the comics on this list (I think total I read 7) but what I did read was very very good so I'm going to go ahead and say that this is a solid list. It's also a stark reminder that I need to keep cutting back on titles from DC and Marvel so I have more flex money to spend on smaller publishers. Only thing that didn't make the list that feels like a real snub to me is Descender. I couldn't give you a specific title but there was more than one issue this year that really blew me away. Absolutely the best Sci-Fi book going today.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Teaser Trailer

I can't believe when this new Guardians of the Galaxy trailer hit YouTube I didn't run to post it on my blog. I was probably sleepy or something.

The trailer is every bit as good as you would hope. Rocket wants to blow something up, Groot is acting silly and cute, StarLord is made out to be a bafoon, Gamora is... well I mean she's there. Hopefully she has a bigger role in the movie than StarLord's love interest. Why not give her a big button that blows stuff up too?

Moana- You're Welcome

I haven't had the chance to see Moana yet but holy carp, this song "You're Welcome" by Dwayne THE ROCK Johnson is fantastic. I pretty much love everything about it. Maui's moving tattoos are really cool, whatever animator thought of that deserves a huge raise, or at least a peak at the frozen body of Walt Disney everyone knows they're hiding underneath Disney Land.

Christmas Wish List: Pokeballs

Every day in December (work schedule permitting) I plan on posting one thing from my official DevilDinosaur Christmas Wish List (patent pending). Why? Because I can.

I need more Pokeballs and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for the stupid things. My son isn't the most patient Pokemon Go player in the world, if he sees a Pokemon he has to trap it, doesn't matter if it's a trash Pokemon or not, if it's there he's flinging Pokeballs at it. We ran out on Saturday so on Sunday we went to a bunch of Pokestops on the way to the mall, we collected about 20 Pokeballs and by the time we actually got to the mall we were out again. It was crazy. On the plus side we did pick up a pretty sweet Tauros AND got to play on the zip line at the park in Federal Way.

Yes, I'm well aware this all sounds like gibberish. But it's fun gibberish.

Christmas Wish List: Large Format Scanning

Every day in December (work schedule permitting) I plan on posting one thing from my official DevilDinosaur Christmas Wish List (patent pending). Why? Because I can.

Oh Large Format scanner, how I have longed for you these many years. Every time I have to scan an 11x17 picture I hear your sirens call. You see, for most of my drawings I use industry standard 11x17 comic art board which is WAY too big for my scanner. My inelegant solution to the issue is scanning the top, middle and bottom part of the picture separately and splicing it all together in photoshop. It's time consuming and sometimes if one of the scans is the slightest bit askew it can be really frustrating.

Of course a decent large format scanner costs about $500, while the one I'm using now was free because my dad gave it to me. Maybe I should start playing scratchers. How else am I supposed to get that kind of cash, save my money?

Trevor Noah Just Had His Moment

If you've been on any kind of social media over the last 24 hours you've probably seen mention of this interview of Tomi Lahren by Trevor Noah on last Wednesday's Daily Show. I caught it "live" while playing Overwatch late into the wee hours. It was probably the first time since he took over for Jon Stewart that I was like "ahhhh, that's why they chose him". Noah really knocked it out of the park with this one. He was very calm and unaggressive, giving Tomi just enough rope to hang herself while still pressing the point that many of her opinions were equal parts terrible, hyperbolic and hypocritical.

Of course none of this matters because none of her fans are going to be watching this, if anything the fact that it created so much social media attention probably helps her brand. Politics everyone!

Here's the interesting thing I haven't really seen anyone comment on yet. Comedy Central runs the The Daily Show twice a night, first at 11pm and then again at like 2 in the morning or something. With Dish network I get the east coast feed of Comedy Central so the first airing of the Daily Show is at like 8pm my time, I almost always catch the replay at 10:30pm. Apparently when this episode first aired the interview with Tomi was cut to about 5 minutes, she went on twitter and claimed it was heavily edited to make her look bad. Then Comedy Central in their infinite wisdom aired the entire 15 min interview on the rerun. I have no idea if that was planned or not but it was brilliant. The longer the interview goes the more her arguments fall apart and the more awkward the whole thing is.

This might not be equal to Jon Steward going on Crossfire but I'm hoping this is a block in the foundation of the new Daily Show. I felt their election coverage was really sub par. I'm not one of those people that thinks we "need" the Daily Show but it wouldn't hurt to have something to laugh at every night while Trump "drains the swamp" but appoints the 5th Goldman Sachs executive to Treasury Secretary.

Death Stranding Trailer

Hey kids, you may know Hideo Kojima as the guy that made all those Metal Gear games I've never played, well after a less than amicable parting with Konami he has a new game coming out called Death Stranding. There was a trailer premiere last night during The Games Awards show, which is a thing I knew nothing about but yay Overwatch won a bunch of awards.

The trailer looks absolutely bonkers, its just a bunch of CGI mo-cap work, for all we know this is just a cutscene to a puzzle game. Maybe it's a dancing game. I don't know people were going nuts over this thing on twitter but I don't get it. Kinda like the new J-Cole video I saw. I mean yeah it was OK but just by judging twitters reaction to it you'd think he just impeached Donald Trump.

Christmas Wish List: New Boots

Every day in December (work schedule permitting) I plan on posting one thing from my official DevilDinosaur Christmas Wish List (patent pending). Why? Because I can.

I'm a simple man, a man with like 5 pairs of shoes. A pair of skate shoes, basketball shoes, two dress shoes (black and brown) and a pair of comfy walking addidas I wear almost every day. I have nothing for when the weather calls for something a bit more rugged. These Duclair Duck Boots from GH Bass are probably a bit fancier than I need but it would be nice to have something for when I want to go tromping around outdoors. I mean those Pokemon aren't going to catch themselves. There's a big old muddy park just a couple blocks from my house, I'll bet it has TONS of cool Pokemon in it.

Fun fact, the Green River Killer buried several bodies in that park!